What is Structuralism in English Literature?

Here, we are going to discuss structuralism in English literature. This article is written from the point of view for the NET exam study. 

Introduction of Structuralism;

There were many philosophical, cultural, and social movements during the post-war period that came into existence. In Europe, structuralism became a major intellectual movement, as well as in the USA. It was related to all the types of forms of signs, such as smoke, fire, traffic lights, art, symbols, and many more. It was not over then. Many things were left to be invented, such as the study of animal behaviour. This study is also equally related to structuralism. Structuralism started in 1950 and remained until 1960, when Poststructuralism and Deconstruction came.

What is structuralalism?

There are many ways to understand structuralism. But here we try to make everything easy in a simple language. So, to understand structural theory, first of all, we should know what structuralism is. Structuralism stands for structure In other words, everything in this universe has its own structure. Sometimes we do not notice it, but if we look carefully, we can find a particular structure in every object. For example, if we need to know what India is, Then we must define the terms "earth" and "continent." Then what is Asia? Then what is a country and politics? After that, we may get the right idea about India. So the relationship of a thing with another particular thing is called structuralism.

Let's see another example of structuralism. To read a novel or any text, we need to know how to read the words, sentences, and paragraphs. Then we can get the meaning of the given text. It is structuralism in simple words. Now let's move to a little higher level. Structuralist Philosophers believe that the world is formed by structures. So these structures are made of units that are arranged in a particular order. These units follow a distinct set of rules in the way they are organised or linked to each other. Let's take a look at how units are organised in a poem.

A poem is a structure that is composed of different types of units, such as sounds, phrases, pauses, punctuation, and words. Every single unit is connected to another unit. In this way, the poem is a result of all of those units being put together. If we want to read or want to understand the meaning of a poem, then we need to read all these units together. Then we can see or realise how the images are being generated by the words in our mind. So the meaning of the text is not generated by any single unit, but is the result of all the units that are put together. A single word in a poem makes sense or has meaning because of its particular location in the poem and its relationship with the other words and sounds in the poem. This is the structure of the poem. So, in conclusion, we can say structuralism is the examination of the structures of texts—poems, films, novels, dramas, poems,

Who are the major philosophers or thinkers of structuralism?

1. Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913)
2. Ronald Barthes (1915–980).

Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913)

A Swiss linguist, Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913), is a big name in structuralism. His contribution to structuralism is the same as the contribution of Shakespeare to drama. He wrote and translated many books related to structuralalism. One of his works, "A Course in General Linguistics" (1959), suggested that language is a system in which different components exist in relation to each other.

He suggested a fundamental rethinking of the nature of language. It is not sufficient to know how words acquire meaning over time. But we need to see what words mean within a period or in a general system of language. means we take the words in the current situation of the language, not in its history. For example, when we listen to a sentence like "she was looking glamorous" and without any problem, we instantly understand what it means. But in reality, we are not aware that the word "glamour" had a different meaning in its history. The word was used to describe witches. So in this way, we get the meanings of the words as they are in use at the present time,

He categorises language into two parts.

1. Langue
2. parole

Langue means "language" and langue means "speaking." These are two linguistic terms coined by Ferdinand de Saussure in one of his works, A Course in General Linguistics. But langue and parole are more than ‘language and speech’ 

Langue

Langue is the whole system, or we can say, the method of language that makes speech possible and meaningful. As we know, a sign is a basic or fundamental unit of Langue. For instance, to learn a language, we have to learn the system of the targeted language’s grammar, its rules of spelling, and the rules of arrangement and punctuation of words. All these are the elements of Langue. Langue is like a system in which it has a great number of elements that create meaning and make sense by putting words in the right order and using the right elements in the right place. 

Parole

Parole is the accurate use of the language, or using the language to communicate, or using the right structure and order of words to understand and to make it easier to understand. means the actual utterances. It is an external display of langue. It is the usage of the system, but it is not the system itself.

conclusion

By specifying langue and parole, Ferdinand de Saussure differentiates between the language and how it is used.

A relational theory of language is proposed by Ferdinand de Saussure.

1. Words exist only in relation to other words.
2. The meaning of every single word is dependent upon the meanings of other words.

So, according to Saussure, the meaning of a word is the result of the difference between the words. For example, "cat" is "cat" because it is not "bat" or "hat" or "pat". It is different in its sound and how it is written. These words, "cat," "bat," or "hat," are the words in a particular system of language. These words are related to each other because they belong to the same language and the same system. This way, words make sense only when they are different from each other. We could not recognise "cat" as a unique word if we did not have other words that are different from it.

Next, Saussure suggests that words and their use are

Meanings are not natural, but the meanings of words are created by repetition and use over time. For example, the meaning of the word "hut" might not be what is traditionally used. When we say the word "castle" or "mansion", we immediately make a comparison with its synonyms like "house" or "place" and other possible synonyms, not only the synonyms but also the antonyms. This technique helps us to impose meaning on a word. For example, the word "man" describes a meaning or quality that the word "woman" does not. The word "day" does not have the meaning or the quality that the word "night" has. so these differences make us easy to recognise words and make them mean. So it is absurd to assume a definite meaning for a definite word.

Ferdinand de Sausser's theory of 'sign'

The sign is made up of two parts: the signifier and the signified.

A signifier can be a symbol, text, word, or image. For example, the word "dog" is a signifier because when we listen to or read the word "dog", it creates an image of a dog in our mind. The image that is created by this word may be different in everyone's mind. but it never fails to create an image. So, in simple words, the word "dog" is a signifier and the image that is created in mind is signified.

Signified: The image that is created by Signifer is signified. It is a mental concept. 

And the relationship between signifier and signified is arbitrary (optional or uncertain). Universal symbols such as the rose for love and the red for danger are not natural; they developed in our society through the passage of time or the repetition of one thing for one purpose.

The major work of Ferdinand de Sausser

1. Course in General Linguistics (1916)